crime

Two men arrested over fatal hit-and-run in Chiba

22 Comments

Police in Katori, Chiba Prefecture, said Sunday that they have arrested two men over the hit-and-run death of a 62-year-old man.

According to police, the incident occurred at around 10:45 p.m. Saturday. Fuji TV reported that a passerby found the man's body and called 119. He was taken to hospital where he was confirmed dead.

The victim was identified as Masao Nozaki who lived nearby. His cell phone and other personal items were found scattered about at the scene.

Police said Nozaki was first hit by a truck driven by a Naoshi Watanabe, 31, and then by a car driven by a Hiroki Abiru, 23. The men, who do not know each other, both said they panicked and kept going.

The road where Nozaki was hit is narrow and poorly lit.

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22 Comments
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Wow. Two hit and runds on the same poor old geeza. Nice sense of community and humanity fellas.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Panicked and kept going. Cowards. Who knows, if they had stopped to help they could have saved this guys life... instead, they left him to die in a ditch.

I have absolutely no sympathy for people who hit and run. Their callous disregard for human life is sickening.

3 ( +2 / -0 )

This beggars belief.

The result of Third-World style, near-zero protection for pedestrians (and cyclists), who must compete for real estate with motor vehicles, from urban streets to fast country roads and even at traffic signals.

Despite priding itself in its built infrastructure, the state abdicates its duty of care to citizens - pedestrians, cyclists and motorists alike - through an utter failure, in the absence of sidewalks, to calm traffic.

The cost of retrofitting raised sidewalks is prohibitive, but pedestrianisation through road closures, and the creation of one-way roads with bollards to protect all road users from each other, would create a greatly improved, less stressful environment that all could enjoy.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Poor man! RIP. I occasionally drive at night but outside city centres, streets are so poorly lit , some roads are with no marks yet they are so narrow ( table roads- narrow highways with sharp corners; really a size of a 1 way lane) you can imagine highway = speeding, narrow, poorly lit, sharp corners, no marks on a raised narrow piece of land above a river with not side rails to protect you. This is very dangerous. People in country side Japan also deserve the same road safety like urban dwellers please.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

And, no doubt they were both doing at least 20k over the speed limit. The speed limit on narrow roads is 20kph. I do 20kph on these roads and get abused by other drivers for it.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

It should be noted that many people in the Chiba countryside drink and drive as driving is the only way to get to or from a drinking place. There are taxis near some but not all stations. Sometimes really drunk people use a drive you and your car hopme service, but not as often as they should.

Is it possible that these drivers did not report the accident because they had been drinking?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The result of Third-World style, near-zero protection for pedestrians (and cyclists), who must compete for real estate with motor vehicles, from urban streets to fast country roads and even at traffic signals.

On the other hand, in Japan an accident resulting in injury is considered a crime, which is not the case in other developed countries. The intention is to make the consequences of accidents serious enough that drivers take more care. But the negative consequence is that the laws are so severe that a driver who gets into an accident and hurts or kills someone is automatically arrested, even if the accident was entirely "accidental". The harshness of the penalty is enough to encourage drivers to flee if they hit someone.

In America I was a police officer and traffic accident investigator, and I had been called to countless fatal accidents. Seldom are drivers who cause the accident arrested, not unless they are drunk, or unlicensed. Hit-and-runs still occur (mainly drunk or unlicensed drivers), but most people will not.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Someone (Nigelboy?) once posted a stat about the number of people arrested for driving accidents and the number of people sent to the prosecutors and it was a very low number (less than 20% if I recall).

I don't think that people run because they are worried that they might get arrested. I think they run because the accidents occur while they are breaking other laws and the drivers are sure they'll be arrested. These accidents almost always seem to occur because a driver is speeding, texting, going through stop signs or red lights or because they are drunk. That's why these people run. I'd wager dollars to donuts that the truck driver was texting and the other driver was speeding or had been drinking.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

This is a country that does not know the word, "sidewalks." I see kids in dark school uniforms riding bikes on narrow roads at night, in heavy traffic, all the time.

Even in the new danchis, the developers, in their quest to cram as many new lots into an area as possible, do not allow space for sidewalks. Why isn't there a law mandating sidewalks? Probably because, as in many cases, the politicians are beholden to construction company lobbying/money.

It's a wonder there aren't more accidents.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

This area is pretty close to home for me so I can guess which road(not where mind you) that it happened on, typical very winding roads, very poor lighting.

As an aside the Mrs told me she heard the guy who got hit was drunk & laying in the middle of the road.........don't know if its true but certainly a possibility & if it was on a corner even if one is doing the limit which was likely 40km it could have been very difficult if not impossible to stop in time....

Maybe we will get some sort of update, although unlikely

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Someone (Nigelboy?) once posted a stat about the number of people arrested for driving accidents and the number of people sent to the prosecutors and it was a very low number (less than 20% if I recall).

But those arrested get their names posted in news, like the two gentlemen in the story above. There will never be a story published in the news telling us if the police decided not to prosecute these men. And if you are talking about accidents involving fatalities, I am sure that more than 20% of those cases are prosecuted.

0 ( +1 / -0 )

The two 'gentlemen' above have both admitted to hit in run which resulted in a fatality. Their names should be posted in the news. Anyone who admits to hit and run have undeniably committed a crime and therefore should have their names in the news. There are hundreds of fatal car accidents each year in Japan but only a few stories like this ever hit the news.

The percentage of people sent to prosecutors that I mentioned above were accidents involving fatalities since it was in exactly the same kind of article that the link was posted.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The two 'gentlemen' above have both admitted to hit in run which resulted in a fatality. Their names should be posted in the news.

Their names would be posted whether they admitted to what happened or not. If you read the news here, you can see that every fatal accident results in the arrest of the driver, and the posting of his name, whether he admits to the accident or not.

-2 ( +0 / -1 )

That's not true. There were 4,117 deaths caused by traffic accidents in 2015. That would mean there would be at least 11 stories like this in the news every day. Not every driver involved in a fatal accident is arrested.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

That would mean there would be at least 11 stories like this in the news every day.

Not necessarily, and for that matter, almost definitely not. They are not required to report stories like this, and there are many accidents and arrests that happen that don't make it on Japan today. The number of news stories (or lack thereof) is never evidence for/against something.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

If you read the news here, you can see that every fatal accident results in the arrest of the driver, and the posting of his name, whether he admits to the accident or not.

He said that every fatal accidents results in the arrest of the driver and the posting of his(or her) name... As I said, if that were true there would be at least 11 stories every day of drivers being arrested and having their names posted in the news. Furthermore, I know for a fact that not every driver is arrested for fatal accidents as I have a family member here who was involved in one.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

if that were true there would be at least 11 stories every day of drivers being arrested and having their names posted in the news.

Again:

Not necessarily, and for that matter, almost definitely not. They are not required to report stories like this, and there are many accidents and arrests that happen that don't make it on Japan today. The number of news stories (or lack thereof) is never evidence for/against something.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I don't understand your point. You agree or disagree with me? If you agree with sangetsu03 then where are the 11.3 stories every day of drivers being arrested AND having their names printed in the news as he / she asserts? Was there really 4,117 stories in the news last year publishing the names of all these drivers? Furthermore, as I said, I know at least one of the drivers involved in a fatal traffic accident wasn't arrested... so again, not ALL drivers are arrested. I can't imagine that my family member was the only person in all of Japan lucky enough to have not been arrested for a fatal driving accident.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

You agree or disagree with me? If you agree with sangetsu03

I disagree with you on the point that all of the accidents would end up as stories here. I haven't agreed or disagreed with sangetsu's claim that every fatal accident results in the arrest of the driver, as I have no idea if it is correct or not.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Well, it was sangetsu who said that all of the accidents would end up as stories. I said not every accident ends up as a story in the news. I quite clearly said that not all accidents end up as news stories here since that would mean 11 stories every day.

sangetsu03Feb. 01, 2016 - 10:03PM JST

every fatal accident results in the arrest of the driver, and the posting of his name

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Then I disagreed with him on that point. It doesn't really matter to me who made it.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

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